56 THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 



maturity is often a serious trouble to the grower for 

 exhibition. The term is misleading to the uninitiated, 

 who would naturally suppose it has its origin in an 

 excess of moisture, whereas excessive heat is the most 

 potent factor in the trouble. A hot day in October 

 may prove particularly disastrous to scores of promis- 

 ing flowers. This evil is apparently engendered by 

 the conditions under which the blooms have been 

 brought to great size ; is, in fact, more or less incidental 

 to high feeding, and affects some varieties to marked 

 degree, while others, under exactly the same conditions 

 and treatment, show no injury. It is called damping 

 because the petals become spotted and the spots spread 

 into a small area of decomposition or rotting of the 

 tissues. As it only affects the highly fed flowers, it is 

 now supposed that the heat acts upon the moisture in 

 the flower, causing some chemical changes which de- 

 stroy the tissues. This would appear to be a true 

 solution of the difficulty, as flowers thus affected in 

 the early stages of development have, when an immedi- 

 ate change to favorable conditions supervened, finished 

 expanding without further injury and have been used 

 for exhibition after the petals injured in the first 

 opening were extracted. A check may be placed upon 

 the evil by slightly shading the flowers with a thin 

 coat of lime wash upon the glass. 



Even if there be no evidence of damping, a slight 

 shade is beneficial in modifying the bright sun rays 

 with an accompanying reduction of temperature, when 

 unusual warmth and bright sunshine prevail late in 

 October and even in November. A batch of Golden 

 Wedding of several hundred fine flowers was entirely 

 ruined by one exceptionally warm, humid day as late 

 as November 10. Subsequent practice has proved that 

 the slight shade recommended is an admirable pre- 



